How much meat should I allow?

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi

I think it depends. My hubby loves his meat and doesnt eat much veg. He would have 3 chicken thighs if they werent very big, I might have two and the same for the kids.

We rarely eat meat in whole portions, if that makes sense. So I rarely buy things like chicken portions, chops, steaks etc. Instead we have diced chicken, diced stewing beef, mince etc which as someone else said goes a lot further. Generally 400g of diced meat comfortably makes a meal for two adults and two kids for us.

I think you need to look at your budget as a whole and find a figure that you can afford. I feed 2 adults and 2 older kids for £280 a month with meat or fish every day. Some people will think this is a lot, others will think its not enough. Depends on your circumstances.

One thing I did when I started to be more MSE is really learn the prices of stuff in the supermarket, find out whats good value and what isnt. Before I came on here I just picked up what I fancied when I went shopping. Good luckwith it.

MrsRogers

Op just remember it may all seem daunting now but it does get easier and take it from me it becomes addictive!!!

Like the other posters say look for offers bogof sausage etc or good value food.

Why not take small steps maybe start by amending / changing one or two meals a week less likely to be a bigger change to get use to for the family.

Another point - where do you shop?

Aldi & Lidl are good value as are most local butchers personally the big supermarkets I think are expensive for meat and quality not that great.

stiltwalker

This was a bit of a sticking point in our house too - DH would happily eat nothing but meat and potatoes with maybe a sauce for his tea and as both a big lad and until this week a warehouseman he has a good appetite. It has taken me a few years but I have finally reduced his meat portion to a more reasonable size and even introduced veggie meals to the menu - as someone else said these meat free meals work best if they are spicy, something like a chick pea and paneer curry works well or pasta and cheese sauce based, either straight forward mac and cheese or 'macaroni cheese with stuff in' as it is known in our house (various veggies added to the sauce, maybe sometime a rasher or two of bacon or a couple of inches of chorizo, ok not meat free but almost meat free as far as DH is concerned).

The other thing I have found to really help is to make the veg portion of the meal more interesting, so rather than serving carrots do carrot batons glazed with honey and sesame seeds, rather than plain peas minted peas or peas with onion, garlic and cream.

Some sort of rich sauce also helps to make the veg and potatoes or pasta more interesting and consequently easier for DH to accept as a larger part of the meal.

My final suggestion is dishes where the meat is in cubes/strips or minced rather than a piece of meat on the plate - if DH can see the piece of meat he knows he is getting a smaller portion whereas with a stew or casserole or stir fry or curry he may be getting less meat but as it is not 'in yer face' he doesn't notice that gram for gram it is a substantially smaller amount of meat. Also with stews and the like cooked as a one pot dish the meat flavour permeates everything so gives that more meaty flavour for DH.

Tonight's dinner is a really yummy beef stew, and about 500g of stewing steak has done 3 hungry adults and 2 hungry kids and to be honest if I'd needed to bulk it out with more veg, lentils or oats, no-one would have noticed.

moments_of_sanity

MrsRogers wrote: »

Op just remember it may all seem daunting now but it does get easier and take it from me it becomes addictive!!!

Like the other posters say look for offers bogof sausage etc or good value food.

Why not take small steps maybe start by amending / changing one or two meals a week less likely to be a bigger change to get use to for the family.

Another point - where do you shop?

Aldi & Lidl are good value as are most local butchers personally the big supermarkets I think are expensive for meat and quality not that great.

It does seem very daunting! This is the first week my DD's have said 'we have nothing nice to eat', from that they mean chocolate, crisps etc which we normally have.

I do shop at Aldi already and have bought the paper today with the voucher in for £5 off but how much do most people allow for food etc each week, is £80 too much, not enough? :eek:

CH27

Try buying cheaper cuts of meat like lamb shanks & ham hocks. They make lovely filling stews & soups.
Turkey mince is cheaper than beef mince at certain times of the year.

jackyann

I do suggest that you sit down & talk with the family.
You can get into a spiral of trying to please them, they don't like your efforts, you feel unappreciated........
Talk about the budget, welcome their ideas of things to try.
We had a rule that "moaning" wasn't allowed - honest feedback was.

Definitely home bake for biscuits etc. My favourites were "chocolate oaties" ie: biscuits bulked out with oats & flavoured with choc chips.

Look to local markets for fruit & veg - but be careful - experience shared on here is that some are excellent value & quality, others not.

I think that kids rise to the challenge if they feel included.

Almo

OP how does your OH feel about eggs? Would he accept those as the 'main' part of a meal? Or even as part of the 'meat' - something like ham, egg and chips?

We have a concoction we call chorizo eggs which is some of (depends what's around): onion, peppers (fresh or out of a jar), bit of cooked potato, mushrooms, diced chorizo and then eggs fried in the middle of it all. A sort of hash I guess. Chorizo flavour is very strong but you don't need that much. Same would work with bacon.

Also do sweet potato and chorizo enchiladas with rice etc, same idea.

We also have bacon in mac and cheese sometimes, satisfies the desire for meat without anything like a normal portion.

Also echo that meat not in one big lump goes further. So even with something like sausage casserole, slice the sausages up - much harder to figure out how many sausages you've had than if they stay whole!

outtawork

I found the website LOVE FOOD HATE WASTE for portion sizes & recipes,

bluebag

I live with a 'meat man' too. I find I can get away with less in a sauce ( curry, chilli, spaghetti, casserole) and up the protein with lentils and beans. The dude would think I was trying to poison him if I gave him vegetarian.

If its things like chicken, steak, chops and stuff I pad that out with a stuffing, fried egg or a sausage wrapped in bacon, samosas or onion rings, spring rolls or something else tasty and cheap.

I was on the meat market yesterday and a leg of lamb was £12.
I couldn't get past the fact that is two hours work at minimum wage.
Scandalous.

tori.k

Also give things like steak/pork loins cops a wack with a rolling pin,so it look's bigger on the plate